


Dumpster Days

by MasterOfDomain (LazyWriter1977)



Series: Are We the Worthy of Powers Abound? [1]
Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Blood and Gore, Character Death, Character Study, Dark state of mind, Explicit Sexual Content, Family Issues, Like, Morphin Grid (Power Rangers), Multi, No Beta, Post-Power Rangers (2017), Really evil, Rita is evil, Suicidal Thoughts, Team as Family, Trauma, Violence, Writing Exercise, mentions of Zordon's old team, mind the rating!!, please read the tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:07:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27187708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyWriter1977/pseuds/MasterOfDomain
Summary: After defeating Rita, the new power rangers now must adapt to life as super heroes. With graduation approaching, family problems and constant threats to the safety of their city and the planet, their lives become entangled and it doesn't help that the green power coin is lost somewhere. Meanwhile, in space, Rita Repulsa gathers power in hopes of getting her revenge, while in distant stars evil stirs awake.
Relationships: Billy Cranston/Jason Lee Scott, Kimberly Hart/Tommy Oliver
Series: Are We the Worthy of Powers Abound? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2172822
Comments: 7
Kudos: 13





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This story is both an exercise and an attempt to write in the power rangers universe, with a little bit of a dialed up rating. I try to keep everyone in character, and still keep up to the spirit of the movie. Please mind the tags and the rating. I try it to tag as best as I can, but I might add as I write along, including couples that might evolve naturally along the writing.
> 
> Anyway, this is meant to be a sequel to the 2017 movie, the recent news that there wouldn't be a sequel made me upset, so here I am. Aftershock is considered Canon although a bit loosely. Anyway please, read and if you can, review. Feed back is always helpful XD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read the tags!!

She remembered kneeling on a floor of the purest silver.

In her dreams she was still, impassive and unafraid. In reality she had been shivering. Fear had overwhelmed her, that she might ruin the ceremony merely with her presence. All along the line she eyed her soon to be siblings in arms, all confident and sure of purpose. In her dreams she still envied them all. Queen Thalassia of Edenoi stood tall in her ceremonial robes, the blue crown upon her head shining as bright as the blue coin placed on her blue skinned hands. Lerigot, of diminutive stature and brave spirit, held the pink coin with the wonder of a child while Gosei, Zordon’s protégé, jumped up and down in waiting for his turn to claim the black coin. When Dulcea and Zordon were chosen by their powers they exchanged a quick glance with one another, and only a lifetime watching them allowed her to see the feelings stirring underneath the surface.

In reality she hated them. In her dreams they were so lifelike she might as well have travelled through the mists of time and into a scarred, mutilated past. From such depths, a dark black visor filled her vision, its emptiness seeming to peer into her spirit.

 _“You are Lady Fienna’s daughter, and one of great potential I’m told_.” Ninjor’s voice was solemn and gentle, his touch even more so as he placed the power coin upon her hands with blue armored fingers _. “May the green coin guide your path, Lady Rita and may the power always protect you.”_

The dream vanished back in the depths of her being, and suddenly she was back in the world of sensations. Her body felt numb, but not as near death as the profound sleep she had endured in the depth of the oceans. From far away she heard voices, muffled and stoic. The language was familiar.

“How is she?”

“Stable as far as I can tell, the blood seems to be Eltarian, but the physiology doesn’t match it quite as well. As for the armor, I’ve been unable to pierce it; it shows a concentration of energy the likes I have never seen before.” This voice was matter of fact, with bits of wonder sprinkled along the sentences.

“Is it some new weapon in the war?” Questioned the other voice, silvery and brimming with wrath.

“I can’t really tell.”

“If she survived in the vacuum, she must be powerful.”

“Indeed, mistress, there is a possibility that she might be involved with the energy spike we detected in the sector.”

“Or she might be the source of it, the reason why Eltar has isolated this part of the galaxy.”

“Perhaps if we can harness it we might be able to rid ourselves of our current problem.”

She heard a sneer, derisive. “Dimitria would try to see me by her side; her threats have no bite to them. No, just go on with your work, I can be patient in regards to results.”

“Very well, mistress.”

Her fingers twitched. Synthesized oxygen filled her lungs, a cold surface flared underneath her and she couldn’t feel her coin anywhere. The power that had cocooned her for ages on end, the power that warmed her and served her, the power that was hers had become distant. A limb ripped from her being, unresponsive and deaf to her plight. Her coin was gone. Her need to rise from such a vulnerable and disgusting state however, made her dig deeper to reach the familiar connection with the powers. She concentrated, focusing her will, as desperate as it was and, like a flickering light, the morphing grid answered her call.

Around her, there was a beep.

“What is that?”

“She is waking up! I need to put her down!”

No.

_No!_

In instants she was brought from darkness to light. Sheer anguish grabbed for power and Rita expelled the inhaled air into a scream, her body seizing as she sought only one instinctual act against those strangers: to throw them away. Power pulsed and exploded from her body, her muscles tensing and relaxing in the wake of a frizzling sound that filled her ears. The act stole the air from her lungs, the strength from her limbs, her warmth even as her vision sharpened in search for something to hold on to. She sat up in a hurry. Quickly, she darted her eyes around, seeing machines and apparel built on bronze metal walls, tubes of synthetic flesh travelling through the roof and into her veins. Disgusted, she ripped them off, huffing at the sting of pain.

A whimper brought her deranged gaze to a figure in the corner, a strange being wearing a bloated suit with tubes flowing into his nostrils, his eyes like two black beads blinked in fear and wonder.

“Where am I?” She snarled, daring him to deny her an answer.

“Fa… Fascinating.” The being stuttered, and then immediately released a whimper under her renewed glare, a green hue flaring in her eyes. “Pardon me! Please! Don’t hurt me!”

“WHERE AM I?!”

“You are in my ship.” Said a new voice from the dark corner of the room and Rita immediately flexed her fingers, missing the presence of her staff. She could already feel how limited her power was, far more diminished that it had been after billions of years of sleep. “You’re inside an Inquiris cruiser of seventh class, and I’m its captain, Divatox.”

Rita grunted, taking in the woman as she walked into the dim yellow light. She was clad in a golden exoskeleton that fit all over her body, and behind her back floated a cloak of crimson, moving in the air like dark red liquid. One side of her face was covered by a mask, also golden, but the other side revealed sharp features and calculating eyes that made Rita’s skin crawl.

Suddenly, she was hit with new memories. She remembered the shock of a biomechanical hand colliding with her body. She remembered the force that made her bones crack and shatter upon impact, a feeling that couldn’t be quite described as she felt the thinning atmosphere disappearing from her surroundings.

In her last instants of conscience, she remembered screaming into the vacuum of space, but there was nothing there to carry her voice. There was nothing to be, nothing to move, and the stillness surrounded her in temperatures near absolute zero. She was a warrior born in Eltar, a sage of great power and noble blood. She was one with the morphing grid and so her last thoughts had been of another kind of near-death, another age of patience and planning and rest in a realm of shadows and eternal dreams.

Now, staring at the woman's dark gaze, Rita held back from questioning how long exactly she did wait. What made her hesitate was that she had no way to measure the woman’s power and the weakness that weighted on her own limbs. The idea irked her to a point when she sunk her nails on the table, biting the words she first thought into ancient lessons long forgotten. She grinned.

“I am Rita.”

“Rita.” The woman tasted the name on pale scarlet lips, narrowing her gaze with some newfound understanding. “What a pretty name, it is Eltarian isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“I love Eltar, delightful at certain orbital seasons.” Divatox mentioned, stepping closer; she picked up a chair from the ground and sat down, tilting her head to the side, the cloak resting like a river over her armored legs. “Of course that begs the question of what you were doing so far from Eltar and to which side you owe your loyalty.”

“Side?”

“Of the war, of course.”

The word alone sent an alarm through Rita’s senses, her ignorance stabbing her stone heart with a plasma drill. She looked down and away. “I don’t know of any war.”

She spoke mostly to herself, her mind racing. Yes, there used be battles in the past, conflicts with forces from the neighboring galaxy. Except her team of rangers had long destroyed such threat, back when she was still foolish and naïve. They had all been together back then, their zords working in harmony, their primal forms more powerful than any war fleet.

They were red, yellow, blue, black, pink and green… An elite force, dealer of death, invincible.

Powerful.

A sound of irritation brought her out of her thoughts, her gaze lifting, suddenly reminded that she wasn’t alone. In front of her, Divatox’s eyes turned cold and Rita allowed the woman to measure her at will. It wouldn’t matter in the long run. She needed some time to get stronger, to understand the functions of this ship and to decide on her next step. Soon she would be measuring Divatox’s utility herself and the merit of keeping her alive. Soon, but for now, she stood her ground, letting the woman try whatever intimidation tactic she was comfortable with, hitting against a being that was far superior to her meek existence.

Then, suddenly, the ship trembled, interrupting their starring contents. It lurched to the side, almost throwing Divatox out of her seat. Around them, loose equipment was thrown on the ground, and the cowering being who was listening in to their conversation hit his side on the wall with a yelp of pain.

Rita remained still, unbothered, a fact that the woman didn’t fail to notice.

“Mistress…”

“Yes, I know, Porto.” Divatox turned to her, narrowing her gaze and, apparently, coming to a decision. “You can wait here; I have business to attend to.”

Rita tilted her head forward. “Of course.”

And just like that, she was gone, leaving Rita behind to mull over her fate. In the door, she could now see strange armored guards with yellow glowing eyes and she wondered if they had been there all along, ready to move and protect their mistress. She wondered about the said war, and all the things she didn’t know. She wondered about her coin, lost somewhere else, and despite herself Rita smirked.

 _“A true Power Ranger will always persevere even against overwhelming odds.”_ Zordon told her long ago, his face framed by his shimering scarlet helmet. His hand then rose, pressing on her shoulder - a touch that was impossible to feel under the green of her armor. _“Without powers, without abilities, as long as you live you can win.”_

Of course the old treasonous snake was right, at least about that. She was alive and one day she would have him and his little rangers crushed at her feet.

That was a promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like Divatox, and I really wanted someone interesting to make company to psychotic movie Rita. So I'm working on what her 2017 woud be like. XD


	2. Strangers After Midnight

_Kimberly Hart couldn’t remember a time when she was scared of the dark._

_Maybe it had happened at some point, back when memory couldn’t reach. Maybe there was a time when darkness would turn familiarity into mystery, shaping monsters out of shadows and threats out of harmless noises. Perhaps she had whimpered and hidden away under her comforter, but if such thing happened it was in the past._

_The truth was that few things could be as tempting as a silenced world, soothing and nonjudgmental. Amidst the cold there was nothing, no noises, no light, not even wind._ _There was only the darkness inviting her further and further from the surface, and Kimberly wished she could attend the invitation. It would be sweet to let go, and make sure what was out there would never touch her, never hurt her, never make her feel like a wretched in her own skin._

_In there, words like “probation”, “court” and “sex offender” wouldn’t invade her ears. No authority would judge her with eyes of ice. No pale girl would haunt her from her mirror. The regrets over a photo that once sent her to bed, giddy and sated, would never again be a problem. In her mind she could still see it, her thumb lingering over the screen of her phone, sensations morphing into the throbbing of her knuckles and a boy’s face rearing back, bleeding. From far away, her parents stared her down, disappointment brimming in every question and scolding, her answers falling on deaf ears, or perhaps they had never been answers at all…_

_It wasn’t me._

_He is a liar._

_It wasn’t that bad._

_He deserved it._

_Who will you believe that boy or your best friend?_

_It could’ve been worst._

_I didn’t take the picture!_

_I didn’t… I didn’t…_

_I didn’t…_

_“It wasn’t my fault.” She said, bubbles of air fleeing her lungs._

_Still, she allowed her body to float in the darkness a while longer, eyes lingering downwards, to the exit of all, thinking that maybe if she sunk deep enough, she wouldn’t feel this horrible and torn._

_Maybe if she sunk deep enough there would be no feeling at all._

* * *

She resurfaced with a startling inhale of oxygen under the blind eyes of a new moon.

Quickly she swam to the shore, propping herself atop of a rock in nothing but her underwear. A towel was already in waiting, but she left it where it was. Water dripped from her body, but the cold never bothered her, it fact, it made her feel alive. Gingerly she allowed herself the pleasure of the view; tonight the pitch black veil was especially attractive to her eyes, cloudless and peppered with stars, glinting away in distances of cosmic proportions. Breathing in through her nose she let the tension go and relaxed her muscles, watching a small shadow cut through her sight, a shape of tiny flapping wings, tracing a path down and over the shimmering waters. Around her the cicadas were singing, and the forested hillside rusttled with ghosts.

She had discovered this place a long time ago, at least in her mind. The result of a child’s exploration, believing herself the only keeper of a secret world. Only later she would learn this place was a common stop for hikers over the weekends, but still, at night, this was forever her reign and secret shelter. A place she was driven to when everything else overwhelmed her weary mind.

She was especially embarrassed of how much of a habit it had become, the numbing pain of listening to the shouts in other parts of her house, followed by the closeted wrongness of harsh whispers in which the words cut even deeper. She couldn’t hide from it, not on her pillow, not in her bedroom, not with loud music in her ears. The ghost of her parents would always remain, each slur thrown at one another in the heat of the moment a slashing burn that brought her to her knees. Those were fights that lasted long and faded into silent hate.

The memory brought her nothing good.

Feeling hollow all of the sudden, she tried to eat a sandwich she wrapped up for the night, but after the first bite she found her appetite lacking and saved it for later. Picking up her phone, Kimberly took notice of the late hour, and wondered if they had finally gone to sleep. In that case, she could go home and pretend she was alone. It wouldn't be so bad and maybe she could fall asleep watching something stupid on the internet. Drying herself up, she put on her clothes and gazed warily to the waters below, when flapping wings returned suddenly, cutting through the glimmering waters before disappearing to the skies.

Coming up and down the mountain was easy. Her legs burned, but she barely felt the effort as she pushed herself quicker and faster than a normal human. She was halfway down when she stopped short, and Angel Grove spread before her eyes in a portrait of lights and shadows.

It was such a small town, but when she looked at the destruction it seemed massive and out of control. If she looked to the east, she knew there would be tents and more tents build for the homeless. Downtown was a mess of buildings either being repaired or about to be demolished. Streets were still rubble, and the presence of strangers only seemed to grow. It was a town full of scars that marked death and suffering, staining the night she came home high from victory and adrenaline with lists of disappearances and somber counts.

It was as she contemplated that reality with bitter resentment that she felt the buzz coming from her pocket.

A quick look at the number reminded her that she wasn’t a normal person anymore. God, she still had the urge to laugh when she thought about it, because now atop of homework, she had training schedules and lessons on technology she was sure the greatest minds at NASADA wouldn’t understand. She could punch through walls, jump over a house and fight monsters. Hell, she literally witnessed a friend dying and being revived. Reluctantly somewhat, she answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Kimberly! Oh thank goodness!” Alpha still refused to learn how to text, she guessed it had something to do with the assurance of a conversation with voices. Nothing she could relate to.

“What is it?”

“I’m picking up some readings very near your position, they might be putty activity.”

“Are you sure it isn’t a trap?” Kimberly had felt very paranoid ever since her and her friends learned that the government had a presence in Angel Grove. The lack of outright sights of a bunch of men in dark suits wasn’t really helping. “I’m not really looking forward to see a gun pointed at my face.” _Again._

“Don’t worry, Billy and I have been refining our sensors, these lectures are very precise, if a little high.”

That last bit itched in the back of her mind, but she felt too tired to think on it. Overall there was very little Billy and Alpha couldn’t do, but still, Kim hesitated a second before telling Alpha to give her the address. It was a location at the old industrial district, in the armpit of Angel Grove.

Looking over the path home, Kimberly felt thankful not to return, a feeling that quickly gave away to shame. Turning around, she aimed for the east, bent her knees and jumped; agility and balance unlike anything human moving her to her destination as she slid down the mountain and jumped on the empty street below. In instants her heart was racing, muscles burning in a sweet delicious thrill that spread through her being in bursts, every cell enhanced with her connection to the morphing grid. Hair whipping behind her back, she raced across the deserted streets, slowing only as she got closer to town. Hiding in the shadows, she slowed down not to attract attention. Idly, she watched a man running on the sidewalk, a car raced past, filled with what sounded suspiciously like drunken laughter, leaving a silence that was cut shortly by the distant roaring of a bike.

Her target ended up being an empty warehouse at the end of a badly lit street. The place seemed to have been just as damaged as the rest of town, with light poles broken up or fallen over sidewalks. There were houses around – places meant for workers when the factories were still functioning - small and shabby looking, some clearly abandoned others simply being piles of collapsed walls and roofs. Whatever money the city was spending; this place hadn’t received any. The warehouse itself was an enclosed building, with one of the walls and part of the roof collapsed inwards, surrounded by a low fence and a police tape. More worrying however was the quiet, still and menacing, making Kim hold her breath.

She was scared half to death when something moved in the corner of her eye. It wasn't a putty however, but something much smaller that made her sigh in relief.

“Hello there.” She said, narrowing her eyes. “You didn’t trick our advanced alien sensors, did you?” The figure snarled, a sharp scared sound. “No, I think not.”

The dog was a mutt, big, old, and dirty – his fur could be white, it was hard tell - crouching and snarling at her unwanted presence. Unworried, Kim picked up her phone, pressing it to her ears and reaching into her backpack.

“Alpha, I’m here, are you sure this is the place?”

“Pretty sure, Kimberly.” There was a pause. “I managed to contact Zack by the way, he will be arriving in five minutes.”

“Thanks.”

Tomorrow they had to wake up early for detention bussiness, the fact that Zack was the only one of her friends not dead asleep was both expected and worrying. Mentally, Kim made a note to check on him, but for now, she pocketed her phone, unwrapped the sandwich she hadn’t eaten and left it on the ground.

“I hope you like chicken”

More snarls told her the dog was probably scared of people. She hoped he would eat once she was gone. Turning around, Kim bent her knees. A single jump was enough to bring her over the fence. Years of cheerleading and gymnastics entwined with weeks getting used to her powers, turned her landing into a swift crouch. She rose, dusted her pants and walked towards the warehouse, the light of her phone helping her find a side door into the building.

It was broken in.

Inside, the warehouse was cavernous and eerie, its tall roof echoing the slightiest noise made by her presence. Around her, she could see craters piled up, empty boxes and shelves. An enormous pile of rocks signalized a falling piece of roof and walls, crushing shelves and machines she couldn't indentify. A mouse squeaked to her left, but her ears picked up nothing unusual, which was strange to say the least. Maybe Alpha and Billy were wrong and Apex was about just waiting for a ranger to show up, in that case she was lucky to not have morphed, but she needed to warn Zack before he burst in punching and kicking.

She was about to make a call when she heard it, a hissing noise that screamed urgency. Finally, her eyes caught something in the shadows, a hand waving from behind an abandoned forklift. Behind she found others, and then finally her light managed to illuminate three wide eyed faces. Were they surprised to see her? What were they saying?

“Who are you?” She asked, receiving a whispered string of words in response. Frowning, Kimberly tried to get closer. “I don’t understand…”

A new sound interrupted her, making Kim spin on her heels. Sirens were approaching, police sirens. Then, something else happened. Vibrations run through the soles of her boots as the pile of rocks she had seen before begun to move. Stones and pebbles trembled over it, shaping them in a process that was annoyingly reminiscing of her nights in the pit. Hands clenched, she watched as the tallest putty she ever saw – there had to be a lot of Goldar Dust in there - suddenly became silhouetted by the dim light of the stars, broad shoulders knocking over the flanking shelves, its eyes two empty sockets in a face that looked more like a pile of rubble.

“Fuck.” Kimberly cursed, dropping her phone, it was brand new. "FUCK!"

Three legs dragged the massive deformed shape closer, a single arm rising ready to smash her.

“Run!”

The voice didn’t need to say it twice; she turned and run straight into the darkness while the hand smacked the ground where she had been, a thundering blow that cracked the floor and echoed towards the night. The three faces she had seen revealed themselves as three guys, two of them running away through the door she had left open, while the third cursed as he hopped on a pair crutches. Kim didn’t think, she just looped an arm around his waist and begun to help him along, but they never made to the door; her enhanced senses barely had time to warn her. Within the blink of an eye, she grabbed the boy and pushed both of them back with her legs, her butt hitting the floor just as a metal shelf thrown by the putty raced past her eyes, colliding with a wall with a resounding screech of screwed up metal.

“Fuck!”

Heaving, Kim glanced to the stranger, and then back to the approaching putty, her vision crystalizing as she begun to understand the situation for an impending fight. Behind her, the boy was struggling with his crutches, desperate to get back up, but her ears were deaf to his shouting and the sirens, senses reaching for her coin.

Luckily however, she wouldn’t need to do anything. Before she started morphing a crushing sound cut through her thoughts. The still intact part of the roof was now falling and amidst the debris Kim had time to glimpse the shining armor of the black ranger crashing through it. Zack’s victorious whoop brought a smile to her face as he raised both hands over his head and brought them down into a victorius crushing blow.

Unfortunately her lucky, as it was bound to do, stopped very fast.

* * *

Of all the places in which Kimberly had imagined herself spending her friday night, she really didn’t expect a police station to be one of them. No, definitely not, specially that little damp square surrounded by metal bars and smelling like someone had taken a shit there at some point. 

Occasionally, she would see cops passing by; to where and to what purposes she didn’t know. Time passed slowly when one had nothing to do. Her phone had been taken away when they brought her in - she considered lucky the whole fight only resulted in a cracked screen - and her only company was a cockroach that insisted on exploring every corner of the cell, which looked both brand new and decadent due to recent repairs.

Outwardly, she was cold. Her face was a mask of pride and horrible strength. It was a mask built from her mistakes, pressured by gossip and mean words, hardened into diamond by each new slur written about her. Inside however, there was only revulsion. It was a feeling she was becoming horribly familiar with.

A part of her, one she was trying to shut every other day, still yearned to talk back. It struggled and fought in a cage somewhere in her heart, screaming that they owed her their lives. Everyone in that small little town and in the whole world owed her their lives. She had, after all, beaten an evil space witch for their sakes, and every day she was out there finishing leftover putties left and right. 

_“You need to follow the three rules of being a Power Ranger. You must never use your powers for personal gain. You must never escalate a fight unless your enemy forces you to, and you must never reveal your identity, ever.”_

Zordon had sounded so serious reciting his rules and she had held back giggles the whole time. Now she was starting to understand that that last rule, for instance, prevented her from breaking out of that cell with her pinky finger. Laughing bitterly, she leaned back; pressing her head against the cold metal behind her and wondering how her life became such a shit show to begin with.

She thought there might be some sort of climax to life, a resolution of your problems so you can get a new beginning, the ending of a story where you need only wait for the sequel. She thought that she was truly a power ranger by the end, and everything would be all right, but it turns out that as long as life moved on you could always get fucked in different ways. She had saved the world. She was the pink power ranger, pilot of the pterodactyl and she could punch through the wall in front of her, no trouble. She had saved the world and she had to make use of her one phone call to hopefully not spend the night in the can and like a bad joke, her parents answered, awake and alert.

She wanted to puke.

At some point she began to bounce her leg, and stopped it. On the floor, the cockroach suddenly run away, crossing the bars of the cell and disappearing around the corner. Goosebumps rose in her arms when a breeze blew into the cell, and Kim was left looking down at her hands, contemplating chewed on nails and brand new calluses. Unwanted, her thoughts flashed her with the memory of giving Zack a thumbs before he disappeared, lifting the stranger from the ground only to be caught by a bunch of cops storming the warehouse with guns and blinding lights. Before she knew it, before she could even say anything, she was handcuffed in the back of a cop car.

Remembering that was a bad idea, her chest grew suddenly tight and heavy, her mind buzzing with a shrill that begged her for a distraction.

She got one when the gate slid open with a heart stopping screech.

Unceremoniously, a familiar stranger was thrown inside the cell opposite to hers, followed close by the sneer of a cop.

“A night in there will teach you something you little shit!” The guy grunted, supporting his weight on his hands and falling on a string of curses. In answer the cop hit the bars with his baton, making him flinch, and cutting off his speech. “Want to say that again?”

Kim stared at the officer’s angry green eyes from the side, balking when the man caught her staring. Despite everything, she still felt the man’s irritation from a distance, something coiled and constantly snapping, dangerous and hostile. He huffed, turning around, but not before the boy spoke again.

“Wait! Where are my crutches?” He yelled and went ignored. “Wait!”

But there was no answer.

The cop was gone and Kimberly watched the boy lowering his gaze, his body heaving, fists clenched on the floor. Then, with some difficult, he got up, spat on the ground, and hopped towards the bench on his one leg, a sour expression on his face. It was just as he was sitting down that he noticed her staring, cracking a grin in the process.

“Hey there, beautiful.”

She raised her eyebrows slowly, taking in the rest of him, something she hadn’t been able to do back at the warehouse. He seemed to be about her age. Tawny brown skin, dark hair. He was skinny and short, something not at all helped by the oversized green jacket he was wearing. One of the legs of his pants was folded above the knee - the leg obviously missing - and his long hair was a disheveled mess, falling over a pair of dorky square glasses. Not at all impressed, Kim crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side.

“You try that with everyone you meet?”

“Just the pretty ones.” Kim snorted, wondering what sort of company she was about to endure. “Skeptical? I’ll have you know people find me very irresistible.”

“I’m sure you weren’t responsible for getting those people in jail.” He chuckled. “You look pretty comfortable for someone who almost died.”

“I was shitting my pants to be honest, didn’t think my night would end like this”

“Me neither.” She took a deep breath, looking on curiously. “What were you and those guys doing in that warehouse anyway?”

He made a face, stuttering. “That is n... that is not really your business, is it?”

“I was just thinking, you knew that thing was in there, so what happened? Were you playing hide and seek and didn’t see the ten foot monster already on the spot?”

He fell silent, and Kim wondered if she had offended him somewhat. Then his serious face broke into a grin yet again, his hand brushing long tendrils of hair behind his ear. “You think I‘m a thief?”

She looked away. “I didn’t say that.”

"But you thought about it."

"So what? Robin Hood was a thief." He made a face as if to ask 'seriously?' and Kim huffed. "All right, forget it, I'm sure you were doing something amazing and noble."

Silence dragged after their exchange, the boredom making her fidget on the bench. She bit at her, tapped her feett and stopped. Her lids were heavy, so she rubbed her eyes. She felt so tired, what she would give to be back in her bed. The Power Coin was still inside her pocket, the freaky artefact seeming invisible to the cops alltogehter. They took it, dismissed and it was back with her an instant later. It was the sort of thing that she didn't feel smart enough to understand or even think about. It was the sort of thing that made a person go mad.

“So... Sorry." She looked at him through her fingers, surprised that he spoke and that his words were soft. “For getting you arrested, and also thanks, you did kind of saved me back there.”

“Kind of?” She questioned.

“Right, of course, you were fucking strong.” He pursed his lips in a nervous smile. “I could’ve hopped away, though.”

“Could you?”

“Yeah!" He exclaimed. "I hop very fast, like you wouldn’t believe it, everyone loves it.”

“Everyone?”

“It’s my greatest flirting tool.”

She blinked, exasperate at the smug face he was making. “You must be quite the Casanova.”

“I bet you would be jealous of some of the people I slept with.”

"I doubt that"

"Well there was once a..."

“You still didn’t tell me what you did.” She pointed out, curious and he seemed hesitant under her interruption, eyes darting away from hers. After a while, he looked back, spreading his hands.

“How about this? I’ll tell you, if you tell me what Kimberly Hart of all people was doing in that warehouse.”

“I was taking a walk, heard a noise and was checking out.”

“You were walking far from home.”

“Do you know where I live?”

“No."

She smirked, not willing to share much with a total stranger. He seemed to accept that, leaning against the wall at his back, that grin never disappearing. It was kind of handsome, but she wasn't about to tell him that. She was curious about how he knew her. “You know my name, but I don’t remember seeing you at school.”

She might’ve imagined it, but his face seemed to fall a little bit. “I’ve actually seen you around detention once or twice.”

“Detention?” Suddenly it came to her, a spark of recognition as vague as it was. She usually was too busy, either messing around with her friends or staring at the hour to pay attention to other people, but she did remember him now. “You’re the green jacket kid! You’re never at your table!” She let her mouth hang open, almost in wonder.

“I don’t quite like it there, yes.”

“Unbelievable.” Kim shook her head. “How many detentions did you skip? I know you get two more each time, you must be booked till old age or something.”

He chuckled, but it lacked emotion. “I doubt the school worries that much. Mr. Detmer is itching to get rid of me.”

Kimberly remembered Mr. Detmer, his hard gaze and his office that smelled like old books and mint. Somberly, she studied the guy again, pouting in thought.

“What was your name? Timmy?” His laughter made her sure that that wasn’t it. “I’m not good at guessing.”

“That's all right.”

“Is it Dick?”

"No."

"You look like a Dick."

“Now you’re messing with me.”

“Am I?” A pause. “Is it Hopper?”

“Fuck you”

It was her time to smirk “What? It’s an actual name!”

“No, it’s not.”

There was a theatrical annoyance passing on his face, which amused her. “You can just tell me you know? It’s unfair that you would know my name, but I don’t know yours. Are you’re sure it isn’t Timmy?”

“Pretty sure.”

“Rude.”

"It's not Rude either."

She huffed. “Very unfair, you’ve probably heard everything about me.”

“I did, but that doesn’t tell me anything.” He paused, pensive for a while, finger fidgeting over his tight. When he looked aside, he seemed more determined. “All right then, I'll tell you something, this is not the first time I spend the night here.”

"Here? You mean..."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Really?” He nodded, and she looked at him softly. “What did you do the first time? If you don't mind me asking."

"I don't" She leaned forward and he let the silence drag, clearly enjoying the attention. “I took a shit in a cop car.”

Kim stared. “No, you did not.”

“Yes, I did.”

“You’re a fucking liar.”

“Am not!”

“You fucking are!” Was that a smile she felt forcing its way on her lips? Stupid, it couldn’t be. This whole talk was stupid.

“Well, if you really want to know, you can ask.”

“I don’t.”

“Ah, then you have no choice, but take my word for it.”

“Which I don’t”

“There I was…”

“No.”

“Not a bathroom in sight.”

“Fuck.”

“And there was the car, so I dropped my pants…”

“All right! Fuck dammit...”

He chuckled and then laughter bubbled from her insides, echoing around the cell. As she looked up, she saw mirth and amusement dancing in his eyes, dark eyes that flashed with something else too, something she recognized. The moment felt good though, so she didn’t think about it, she allowed herself to enjoy it. They laughed untill they couldn't, the cell not feeling that bad any longer. Content, Kimberly let the moment stretch between the two up until it was interrupted by a shrieking sound that made both jump on their benches. The cop that had thrown the green jacket kid into his cell had opened hers, standing there with derision in his gaze.

“You’re free to go.”

“I’m?” Kimberly asked, startled.

“Mommy and Daddy are here.” The cop mocked, making her cheeks burn in embarrassment.

Slowly, Kim got to her feet, hugging herself and avoiding the cop's eyes. He closed the gate, and started to take her away when the stranger called out hurriedly.

“I’m Tommy!”

She stopped. He was grinning hesitantly from inside the cell. The cop tried to push her along, but Kimberly stuck her feet on the ground and grinned back.

“Nice to meet you, Tommy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, yeah, I'm trying my on take on Tommy, hopefully he will be an engaging and interesting character. Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed it, please read and, if possible, leave a review.
> 
> constructive criticism is always apreciated. XD


	3. Welcome to Angel Grove

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, one more chapter to go people! XD  
> By the way, I did some light changes to past chapters, I remembered Divatox had her technical expert, so I thought of something better to do with Finster. Hopefully people might find it interesting. XD

Aisha Campbell never put much thought on her neighbor city, Angel Grove.

While it was common to exist a certain rivalry between her town of Stone Canyon and this little corner of the world - a lot of it based on sports she cared nothing for - the old fishing town with its ancient mining business was nothing but another dull place, with its local scandals, bickering neighbors and wide spread gossip. That was still truth until weeks ago, when it became the most interesting place on the planet, crashing down some corners of the internet in the process.

Some sites were spreading videos and theories about an alien invasion, others were blaming the whole affair on secret government experiments, while the government talked a lot and said nothing. The reality remained that the only real information regarding The Encounter had come from the bright colored saviors themselves.

They were the Power Rangers, and they were there to help.

That was why, although she never cared before, Aisha was now confined in an two hour long bus drive with a bunch of raucous volunteers and no air conditioner, her intentions being one of scientific purposes, that might or not add bragging rights into her curriculum.

“Do you think we have a chance of seeing them?”

“Who?” Behind his book, the only part of Adam that she could see was the green with which he painted his hair and the bright silver earring shining against the pale skin of his ear.

“You know who, the power rangers!”

“I highly doubt it.”

From the seat behind them, a hand reached out, tapping at Adam’s shoulder. Rocky looked at both of them from behind chestnut tendrils of hair, signaling with his hands.

WHY NOT? He asked.

“Yeah, why not” reinforced Aisha, looking at their friend, Adam sighed.

“Because Angel Grove might not be a big city, but it is still considerably sizable. We will be confined to a very small area helping the relief efforts, and not allowed to walk around because there are still monsters attacking. I doubt we're going to see anything, I still don't know how you convinced us to come.”

"I didn't want to come alone, besides it was very easy once I dangled those tickets in front of you."

"Right, curse my love for punk rock."

"I still don't see what is so amazing about _Bansheera's Demons_." 

"That is because you have no taste, and the tickets were good, but I'm more interested in the college credits."

Aisha exchanged a look with Rocky, and he tapped their friend’s shoulder again to get his attention. Seeing that the conversation wasn’t over, Adam finally lowered Edgar Alan Poe onto his lap, giving them his full attention. Rocky made the hand signals with a speed they were already used to reading.

WE CAN STILL SEE THE MONSTERS!

“The monsters!” Aisha jumped, excited. “Can you imagine? Real monsters! That is something straight out of a sci fi novel! Adam you have to be excited about it!”

“Are we even sure they are monsters? Some theories say they are some kind of extraterrestrial life.”

“Oh cool, so we’re not alone in the universe, you might actually get a boyfriend.” She grinned and Rocky laughed, his shoulders shaking in mirth.

“Very funny," said Adam, and she could see he was about to bring the mood down. “There are other theories that question if those creatures are alive at all. Think about it, are those power rangers killing other living beings when they save us? If so, why do they have to save us at all?”

“Maybe we can ask them!”

Adam seemed exasperated. “You do know that those monsters ripped people apart, right? You’ve seen the footage, Aisha! Don’t you think it’s dangerous to even entertain the idea?”

“Of course I’ve seen the stuff, it’s all over school.” She grimaced, assaulted by memories of the videos captured during the whole affair. Footage of firemen and cops being ripped open, and civilians being crushed under fists of stone. It was sick, and she often cursed the morbid curiosity that made her watch it.

Feeling more poking on her shoulder, she turned to Rocky. DON’T MIND HIM, HE IS JUST WORRIED ABOUT COLLEGE, YOU KNOW HOW STRESS GETS TO HIS HEAD.

“I know” She smiled ruefully.

College was the main reason Adam had come. While she thought about real life superheroes her friend thought about credits. It isn't like she wasn't listening to his arguments either, it's was simply a matter of opportunity. As far as Aisha was concerned, life gave few chances and you had to take them, wheter you were taking a bus to see a rock concert or aliens. She knew she wasn't the only one of course, but unlike most crazies being thrown out of Angel Grove on the news, she was much clever. Volunteer work was the perfect entrance ticket. Smirking, she looked down at her wristband. It was just a piece of plastic to id where she came from, its yellow colour making a bright contrast to her brown skin, and her ticket to see real life heroes. At the back of the buss a shouting match begun by a few students, a teacher came running from the front and Aisha allowed her gaze to drift outside, through a wide road into the mountains, its curves and lines following the patterns like a long sinuous snake.

It was still morning when they finally arrived at the relief camp. Aisha climbed out of the bus clutching her jacket right around her shoulders. Despite the sun there was a chilly wind blowing from the ocean, dangling her dreadlocks. Rocky and Adam both followed her into a group of other volunteers, giving out names and waiting to do their part. Aisha stood behind a tall boy about her age, squeezed inside a blue puffy jacket and mumbling something to a short yellow clad girl who smirked underneath her beanie. She had long hair, Aisha noticed, brushed back over her shoulders and ripped jeans which ended above her ankles.

"You'll figure it out, Billy"

"I don't know, the calculations are always the same, I think math might be universal so I just have to convert the base to ten, but the terms are strange, and there is also the twins that we need to find and..."

He dissolved into more words Aisha couldn't hear. Worried she might get caught, she looked away, eyes drifting to the streets beyond the park, packed with cops whose job she found hard to indetify. Maybe they were there to protect them. There was some hope inside her that she would be assigned something easy, perhaps giving out food or something. She didn’t expect to be given thick construction gloves, protection glasses and a shovel to clean the streets.

“What even is this crap?” She complained, horrified at the idea that she might break a nail.

“Monster bits” Adam reminded her smugly, his skinny body barely sweating as he looked her way. “You wanted to see them remember.”

“You’re lucky I don’t hit you with this shovel.”

“Do me a favor and tell my father after you do it.” Adam added. “He might give you a reward or something.”

Aisha narrowed her eyes at the dry humor. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped short when she saw Rocky shaking his head. Sighing, she went back to shoveling the weird stuff from the asphalt. It was kind of like clay, but she doubted clay could move around by itself. These pieces, she was told, were the leftovers of a fight the power rangers had two days ago, and now they needed the street cleaned up for vehicles. Making a pause, Aisha brushed some sweat from her face. She felt gross all over, and was starting to wonder if there was even a hotel assigned to them or something. She definitely needed a shower.

“Do you think it’s even safe for us to do this sort of thing?”

“I don’t think they would let us do this otherwise.”

She looked at Rocky, who poked some of the clay with his bare finger, when nothing happened he shrugged. So much for all that alien crap, back in those first days there were always footage of people with protective suits picking up this stuff. Angel Grove wasn’t even allowed to begin reconstruction until a bunch of scientist said there was no risk of contamination. Aisha decided to keep her gloves on anyway.

All around, there were other people helping out, a punk kid with a ring on his nose was giving out water bottles, a chubby guy wearing a Samaritan Reliefs shirt was watching everything while pocking on a tablet. She noticed that some guy wearing a white t-shirt – his muscles on display – was sneaking behind the short beanie wearing girl from the line, whose yellow jacket was now tied at the waist. She watched the guy coming up behind her, pull at her collar and drop something inside it. The girl shrieked a high pitched noise that made Aisha cringe, and by the time she turned around he was running away laughing.

“Fuck you, Zack! I’m getting you back for this!”

“Can’t wait!” the boy, Zack, said, stopping just by Aisha’s side, mirth still on his face, his eyes warm and welcoming under the spiky dark hair. “Hi, I’m Zack, and you are?”

“A-Aisha.” She stuttered, shaking his hand in a knee jerk reaction. “I-I’m not from here.”

"Really? That is dope, maybe I could show you around."

"Huh..."

"How are you liking Angel Grove?"

"Just seeing the sights" She said pointing to the clay she had been shoveling.

"Yeah, that is kinda of a bummer, there used to be some better places to see of course." He leaned over his shovel, listing things of with his fingers. "We had a Krespy Kreeme, but it blew up. We had a sawmill, it blew up. There was a gym that got blown up, and I think there was an awesome ice cream parlor by Marine Bay..."

"It got blown up?"

"Stepped over by a giant blue triceratops, but I think he was very sorry about it."

Aisha chuckled, smirking at him. "You're charming."

“Well, charm is my middle name" He grinned. "Say, would you like to hang out some time?”

“I…” She was sure her cheeks were burning in both bewilderment and embarrassment. “I don’t like boys.” 

She was half afriad that something bad might happen, but the guy's face instead lit up with some umphantomable joy that Aisha couldn't understand. He opened his mouth, but whatever he was going to say dissolved into a yelp when he saw something over her shoulder. Aisha was perplexed seeing him jumping and running away on the opposite direction but then, a moment later, she saw the short girl running past her, a bag full of ice in her hands. “Come back here!!” she screamed.

Aisha blinked, wondering where they got that ice to begin with. To her side Adam was shaking his head like the old man he pretended to be, annoyed at the kids throwing balls near his yard. Quietly she shared a glance with Rocky, both amused. Looking down she saw the girl had dropped some ice on the ground and she bent to pick it up. She rose to meet Adam’s narrowed gaze with a smirk.

“You better not.”

She didn’t, but still, it was funny to catch his startling reaction whenever she stepped out of his sight.

Later that day she joined a long line of famish workers in search for a meal. Aisha stood behind Adam, who was currently trying not to blush as he stared at the blond jock serving potato salad, a blond jock with the big blue eyes and square face of a movie poster. To her delight, the jock smiled at him, making her friend stutter in a rare event of good awkwardness that ended all too soon.

“Hey! Freak! You gotta move!” Shouted a boy ahead of the line, red hair falling over his eyes and a laddle dripping broth in his hand. Adam's face fell instantly as he mumbled an apology. “Whatever, get lost, I don’t want… Fuck!”

Aisha was just moving to give the boy a piece of her mind, but a girl sitting behind him on some sacks of flour acted first. She had seen her while in line, leather jacket, black pants, pink shirt and bobs falling over a pair of sun glasses. She thought the girl had been asleep until she kicked the redhead.

“Be nice, Colt.” She warned, earning a mumble from the boy. She picked something from her side, and Aisha was startled as she threw two extra juice boxes to the jock. He caught them in the air without looking and placed them on her and Adam's trays to their utter bafflement. "That is on the house."

"We're sorry" Nodded the jock, but Aisha was still processing the whole affair of cinematic movements, taking a moment to move along. Behind her, Rocky was equally wide eyed and the conversation on their table gained a whole new subject.

"People can do that if they train a lot, I mean, the internet is full of that." Adam kept arguing. "Rocky, you did martial arts, right?"

TWO CLASSES. said Rocky, falling into a series of clumsy karate chops.

Along the day she saw glimpses of Zack and the girl in yellow walking around the camps. She watched men and women come and go, medics giving out exams, and the refugees themselves, dragging their feet aimlessly or sitting in front of their temporary shelters with eyes that were lost and somewhat empty. She heard gossip too, whispers and conversations. Some of them were about the second incident involving a giant monster, others were about The Encounter. She heard fearful conversations about the rock creatures and the Power Rangers themselves, whom many kids run around, shouting and fighting to see which color to pick. Sometimes a truck would park after crossing her recently cleaned street and would let go a bunch of donatives transported by Samaritan Reliefs.

For the rest of the day she got to be really close to those trucks, unpacking and making lists upon lists of clothing, water bottles and food. Sometimes a supervisor would come along, check on her work and go away. The sun moved behind clouds, dogs sniffed around the tables while and Aisha watched a boy in crutches walked on the other side of the street. Her teacher relieved her at the end of the day, calling all of them to congratulate the good work.

“I know some of you came for all those credits you were promised, but I just wanted to say you still did a lot of good” He explained with an uncertain smile. “Tomorrow we do it again, now rest a little. The bus will come soon to take us to Angel Grove High where we will be sleeping.”

Of course, lots of fun camping inside of a school, she should’ve known. Thirsty and in a sour mood, she walked away from the group, letting her friends know she would be buying something from the store. The place was small, a local bussiness with shelves piled up with junky food. Aisha explored the aisles distractely, her eyes following a mother and her child as they argued about cereal boxes. The kid seemed very disappointed, but the mother wouldn't budge. Amused, Aisha picked up two soda cans and went to deal with a very bored cashier. Outside, she let the wind brush her face for a bit, glad she had chosen not to wear make up for this. Sniffling a bit, she stared at the moving street, the dim crowd moving about, the low buildings standing as if life hadn't changed in a major way all over the world. As if there weren't daily meetings at the United Nations to talk about alien invasions.

Looking back, she had to wonder if her thoughts had done it, for just then Aisha felt the ground trembling under her feet. Frowning, she took a look around, seeing some wide eyes among the few people on the streets. On the skies, the sun was slowly moving west, a bird landed on a wire then flew off in a hurry and then the running started to her surprise and confusion.

“What…”

But her question was cut off when she saw a couple running out of their car, leaving the doors open as they tripped on their own feet just as a shapeless form collided with the side of it. The metal bent like paper under the wrath of four different stone fists, each one punching the car down in an insane display of strength. Then another creature jumped on top of it, and the car sunk into the ground with blasts of broken glass, revealing an empty carved face staring right at her.

Except it didn’t have a face, not really. The head was a spiral oblong mess, like a kid had tried to build a human with silly putty without really understanding how to do it. There were no eyes, and yet Aisha felt the full power of the glare.

The ground, once so firm, suddenly disappeared from under her feet. In footage they looked awesome, but now, breathing and seeing one right in front of her, Aisha found that her feet couldn’t move. The soda cans were still in her hands, and she was oddly aware of being alone on the sidewalk.

“What…” She mumbled, losing control of her voice.

The ground shook. The monster started running, a twisted sort of walk, distorting its already disproportioned body as it tripped over to her. It was almost funny. She laughed, hysterical, even as each step resounded with a weight and force that finally made her step back, hitting her back against a wall. She closed her eyes, wishing she had heard Adam and stayed home. The world shook. She wouldn't see Adam again, or Rocky or her parents. Aisha curled around herself, body numb, waiting for pain. She would never get to complaing about her dad's latkes again.

She waited.

Held her breath.

A crash sounded from her front, like a breathing beast waiting to swallow her and still she dared not to open her eyes while gurgled noises filled the streets with living nightmares. Still, death was taking a while. She wondered if she had already died and somehow didn't realize it. When something touched her shoulder she finally screamed, startling back with a hammering heart.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s all right.”

“What… Whatwhowhat…”

“Shhh…” A dark black visor stared back at her, a yellow finger moving in front of a silvery metal imitation of a mouth. Her drumming heart almost made it difficult to understand that there was a power ranger talking to her. A power ranger! “Are you all right?”

Her eyes darted to behind the strange being, to a pile of rocks where the monster’s face laid discarded on the ground like any other rock. Somehow she managed to nod.

“Good, then listen. You’re gonna stay here. You’re gonna hide, and everything will be all right. Do you understand?” She managed another nod.

“Hey, are you gonna flirt all day, or are you gonna help me out?”

Aisha looked beyond the Yellow, to where she saw a tall black armored shape dodging two monsters around him only to move and dispatch one with a well-placed kick in its suppose jaw. The stone face blew apart in pebbles and dust, and the ranger was already punching another in half. In front of her, Yellow somehow released a sigh through the metal mouth. Aisha felt the slick hand on her shoulder move away, and then she was alone once more, watching the ranger cross the street in the blink of an eye to slam her shoulder against two monsters at once, smashing them against a wrecked minivan. At first she feared both rangers would be surrounded as the number of grey putty monsters increased. Then, from the skies, the other three came down in shouts of triumph. Pink came kicking and jumping, each movement dispatching a group of targets as her legs twisted and spun in midair. Blue was clearly crazy, he picked up one of the monster by the leg and used it to dispatch another two, which Black saw and started to imitate. He almost didn’t see a monster coming for his back and then Red was jumping over him, a shining humming blade slicing the creature in half like it was made of butter.

Cowering by the sidewalk, the girl from Stone Canyon watched everything with wide eyes and a racing heart. The whole time Aisha sorely missed her phone. It was right inside her jacket, but her hands seemed unable to do anything but shake.

* * *

Melanie Sheer was sitting on the back of a car, staring down into a file when her phone rung with a waited and expected warning.

“Yes?”

“There is an event near the relief camps, the targets have shown.”

“You can call them Power Rangers, Colonel Lokar. I understand you military men like to keep a straight face, but there is no need to avoid the courtesy.” She could almost feel the annoyance from the other end of the line. “Are the drones ready?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Then engaged as planned, and we better have some satellites in position. We don’t know how many more chances we’re going to have.”

Apex wasn’t an organization that existed in the legal sense of the word, and despite the government willing to send their best asset to handle the most important situation of the century, they weren't completely at easy leaving her to her own devices. Having Colonel Lokar and a nearby base around was only part of the deal for her operations; luckily the man was easy to keep busy.

Around her, Melanie watched the small town disappear as the driver took them to into a high class neighborhood, where fancy houses were hidden behind tall metal gates and security cameras. Bored, Melanie flipped through the file one more time, while the driver dealt with their entrance.

When she climbed out of the car a moment later, Melanie adjusted her sunglasses and took in the sight of the two story house, complete with an American flag in the yard. Huffing, she walked to the door, ringing the bell and waiting with her arms crossed, annoyingly wrinkling her suit. Inside the house she was escorted by a shy woman towards an office with a clear view to the backyard and a pool surrounded by playing kids and chatting grownups. There were some distinct citizens there too; Melanie saw senators, a deputy, some members of the city council, businessmen and even the district attorney, and it was easy to guess to the interests that brought many to that harmless Saturday pool party. Her musings were interrupted a moment later when the door opened to reveal the sharp angry gaze of Mayor Caplan.

“What are you doing here?” He questioned right away, walking past her and closing the curtains with sharp tugs. “I thought I was very clear that I had no intention of seeing you again.”

Smiling, Melanie took a seat uninvited, looking up at the man with her best look of appreciation. “Unfortunately you can’t ignore the massive help we’re offering your town, sir, I thought we had cleared that up already.” The Mayor kept quiet. He wasn’t that much of a fool to believe that Samaritan Reliefs was an organization with good in its heart, not with the speed and the power she held, but still, he wasn’t smart enough to even seen the tip of the iceberg. "I'm just helping out."

“You strode in with your money and resources, thinking you can start giving orders, I know your type.”

“Orders? What are you talking about?”

“You know.”

“Well, I don’t, but I’m sure we can be civilized about this.” She placed a nail over the table, was it cherry tree? She had no idea, it seemed expensive. “You have a town that is world news, and a bunch of celebrity heroes whose image you can explore. There is a lot to look forward for you if you play your cards right.”

“What I know is that I have half a city in ruins, and a sketchy help that has blocked access to every other fund or relief agency in the country.”

“Well, that is because our situation is a sensitive one" a pause. "I have to say, I didn't know the mayor of Stone Canyon was around here, why is that?"

Caplan frowned. "It's just an idea, bring back some sports into town, get the people something to talk about."

"Bread and circus, there is nothing like it."

"Don't start," he said cutting her off.

"I imagine that is a secret right? if people knew you were negotiating somthing like this there would be questions about safety and unecessary expenses. It's the same with me, Mayor, you have your circus, I have my work. Secrecy is important.”

Melanie was actually planning on offering a bone to the man, but alas, she needed something, and catching him off guard, in his khaki’s and button up shirt was a nice way to establish who was in charge, that and the file she threw over the table. For a long while Caplan simply stared. It would be interesting if he refused to take a look, taking shelter in his own ignorance, but like many, he just couldn’t help himself. Melanie Sheer watched him take the file and with the flip of a few pages the mayor sealed his fate.

“What is this?” He asked, astonished.

“That is the importance of secrecy.”

Melanie appreciated few things in life, one of them was winning. As she watched the man’s shoulders sinking low, she allowed that feeling to settle, a small but pleasurable triumph that brought a true smile to her face as the mayor run a hand through his balding head.

“What do you want?”

“Your Chief of Police, Chief Colton, has been less than keen on cooperating with us; maybe you should talk to him, tell him about all the good that Samaritan Reliefs has done in the world.” She rose up and paused. “Just a talk, we don’t want to stir any trouble, he has been doing such a good work after all, and it would be a shame if people suddenly noticed that.”

She enjoyed seen a man defeated, that was truth, but the feeling, unfortunately didn’t last long. When she returned to base, she knew right away that the mission of the day had failed completely solely by the twitching in the eyes of Colonel Lokar.

“What happened?”

“We lost them.” Lokar said, straight to the point. “Our plain clothes spotters lost the targets two streets north of the event. Our topography scans caught nothing, as usual, and the drones fried after five minutes flying over town, I’ve sent teams to recover the remains.”

“And the satellites?”

“Our people at NASADA already said they had some technical problems lasting for less than a minute.”

“So we’ve got nothing.”

"I've gotta say the possibility of having our satelites hacked by the enemy is worrying."

"They might be aliens, Colonel, I'm sure they have a lot up their sleeves."

The two came up to a door where the guards stepped aside to let them acess the scan. Lokar pressed his thumb and the door opened to a set of stairs overlooking a massive hangar. Building the place had been a pain, but the results were passable as far as Melanie was concerned, her eyes falling over a twelve foot drill, the latest technology available to penetrate the soil, and all she noticed were the sparks and maintenance crew signaling more broken equipment. It didn’t matter, her budget was limitless.

"I have set some people to watch the warehouse from last night, as you instructed."

"Samples?"

"Collected."

She hummed, looking over the drill. “Do we need to replace that?”

“Our engineers say it won’t work, physical drills can’t pierce whatever is below the layers of soil. They think we should acquire an experimental laser for the job.”

“All right then.”

Coming down the stairs she walked over the floor, the echoes of her personal at work following all the way to the coffee table. She noticed that Lokar was still following her.

“Anything else I can do for you, Colonel?” She poured the coffee, filling her cup. “Is it something about ranks and my questionable leadership? Oh, you’re frowning, don’t worry, your report got through, it is beyond me to try and censor your words.”

“Since you mentioned, I would like to reinstate my professional opinion that we should have apprehended the targets days ago.”

“And I should reinstate how disastrous that could be.” Three spoons of sugar, she was in need of it. “We don’t know what they are capable of, we don’t know where they come from, we don’t know if there is more of them out there. We do know that currently, they are allies, however you want to define the word, and we have to be smart before turning allies into enemies.”

“Your argument is based on ignorance, ma’am, and with all due respect, we solve the problem of ignorance by asking questions.”

“Torture, you mean.”

“Interrogation.”

“Yes, of course, how could I forget.” She sipped the Coffee, glad by the injection of caffeine. She was really looking forward to get to the safety of her office. “Say, human rights wouldn’t really apply to aliens, am I right? Not that that matters much in our line of work.”

Lokar gave her what might’ve being a military’s idea of a appropriate and manly pout. “Think about what I said, Director Sheer.”

“I’m doing it right now.”

“Ma’am!” None of them turned their gazes away, letting the voice come closer until it stopped, huffing and leaning on his knees. “Ma’am! I need to talk to you! I need…” he paused, trying to recover his breath.

“What is it, Doctor Finster?” She finally asked, turning to the man in a lab coat, his shaggy hair falling grey over his eyes, his face recently shaved grinning like a maniac.

“I did it… I have advancements… Something… you need to see it, Ma’am!”

“All right.” She turned back to Lokar, knowing this last bit would annoy him. “You’re dismissed Colonel.”

Finster guided her to the back of his laboratory, a place filled with samples and more samples taking from the rangers’ battle grounds. Some pieces were broken, others were melted, more were put under tests of stress by a team of sharp minds. More interesting than anything else however were the tanks of the subjects 01 and 02 functioning on the back. Always eager for a glimpse, Melanie walked forward, stopping before the deformed monstrosities that almost made a second Ground Zero in the city. Aubrey and Jacob Hogan might have once being civilians, but now they were some strange hybrid of human and the mysterious alloy that made up the monsters. They still had some resemblancy to people, but now it was like there was rock growing from under the skin, patches of gold flowing into their veins and bulging, giving them each a grotesque appearance and claw like limbs.

“Oh, yes, our subjects, they were very helpful.”

“How so doctor?” She didn't turn from the sight.

“Well, no matter how many tests we made, even in the samples of the creatures that have risen since The Encounter, we never came anywhere near figuring out how it works.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“Right! Of course… Of course, well, with subjects 01 and 02, it’s different, we might have discovered something! Here…”

Melanie came closer, watching as the doctor picked up a flask full of what looked like clay. Her face must’ve said everything because the man quickly started his explanation.

“We made the mix into something more malleable.”

“I can see that.”

“Now…” He picked up a drop of it on a metal rod and let it drop over a metallic platter inside an glass case which he closed. The case had been prepared, because beside the sample there was another metallic vessel, which the doctor begun to manipulate through the coupled gloves. Melanie kept her face quiet, wondering what this was all about. “In itself, the alloy is harmless, but watch what happens when we bring it closer to a sample taken from subject 01.”

He unscrewed the lid of the vessel, picking up what looked like a finger, which he brought closer to the clay like substance. Slowly, he let the finger beside it, and then took his hands off the gloves. He looked at her, asking for distance, and then pressed a button. A low humming sound begun to come from the case, the lights of the laboratory… no, the whole warehouse blinked its lights…

“What are you…”

“Watch!” The scientist said, seeming forgetting who she was, but Melanie was watching and suddenly, the clay and the finger began to join together. The lights were back on, but she had eyes only for the show in front of her eyes. The mass became some shapeless gull that immediately begun to twist itself inside the case, and Melanie came closer, fascinates by the sprung tentacles that began to hit against the reinforced glass.

“What happened?”

“Well, as you know, these rangers described an electric crystallization process to change the state of the alloy. I’ve been working on way to reverse this process, but in the end, what I found is that contact with the alloy in its natural state is enough to incur a reactivation, that and a massive interaction with a source of energy.”

“You mean you can create these things?”

“Not really, the amount of energy needs to be immense in proportion with the mass, to reactivated this small fella I must have blown up some energy towers.” The doctor said seeming completely unworried, he tapped the glass in front of him and the gulp shifted, forming what passed as arms and legs to again attack the container. Dr. Finster smiled.

“So you know what to do, but it’s inviable and, let me guess, you can’t really control these things can you?”

“Well…”

“I heard enough.”

“Wait!” She stopped, looking over her shoulder, the Doctor fidgeted. “These things, we don’t really understand them… them.., but they are a-a marvel. It's just an idea, it's something I thought about I..." He trembled again, seeming unsure, his adam's pole rising and falling as he swallowed.

"Talk, Finster."

He startled, adjusting his coat as if coming to a decision. "Ma'am, we do know that they show intention, these beings, it is a violent intention yes but it is there and, as we’ve seen, they have shown interaction with human physiology in a way that impplies sentience and an ammount of control."

Melanie took in his words carefully, the full understanding of his implications falling on her ears.

“I’ll consider it, just keep working.”

She left the man to his devices, retreating to the familiar shelter of her office.

Once inside, Melanie dropped the empty cup over the table, sighing to herself. The chair was comfortable as she made sure it would be, perfect lumbar support and everything. Shifting, she dropped her shoes and turned the chair around, her vision filled by the board she made for herself in the first day she arrived in Angel Grove.

The timeline was sketchy, but she had put a good chunk of it together.

It all started with a woman’s body found by a fishing boat named The Sleep Robber. The captain, a Sam Scott, called the police. These actions somehow resulted in the death of a cop and a deckhand from the same boat. The murders were very different from the ones later on, because there was no gold stolen, but still, the circumstances didn’t let her ignore it. A corpse disappearing and people killed? It had to be connected.

After that, what followed was a series of cases covered by local news to such a degree the population was growing paranoid. Local fires affecting poor areas of town, golden objects disappearing or been ripped from bodies, a whole jewelry store vanishing in an explosion. The trail of destruction lasted eleven days and then, finally, a witness described seeing a strange woman by the Cascadia gold mine. The man was there with the demolition crew, meant to blow up the place and seal the tunnels after the mine was declared unsafe.

The woman was described wearing a strange green plate over her body, wielding a golden staff shining with green light. She had apparently summoned gold from the ground, almost like magic. Of course Melanie didn’t believe in magic, but the fact that a gigantic gold monster had indeed walked into Angel Grove changed certain circumstances. It was something they still didn’t understand. What followed was an army so vicious and brutal it would have destroyed the town, had not there being an opposing force to confront it.

They came in five gigantic machines, fighting off the creatures and then the five machines became one even bigger. Melanie had considered many things concerning those Power Rangers, had they brought their war into their planet? Where had they come from? Was the woman part of an army or acting alone? Would they ever leave? She didn’t know, but she could remember her beating heart when she saw the war machine trading punches. It was a war machine, of that she had no doubt; the weight, the strength, the speed with which it could move its limbs, something that was near impossible, even impractical.

Is it possible to harm it with a canon? Could a unit of tanks maybe put that thing down? Melanie doubted it despite the innocent optimism of some high ranking people. She doubted they had any chance at all if those rangers turned on them for some reason or another.

Still, it was a game, and Melanie liked to play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, reviews are great, criticism is apreciated.


	4. End of Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once again, i'm asking that you read the tags, and mind the rating.  
> Criticism is always apreciated.

Jason came through the water and landed swiftly on his knee. It had taken him some practice to learn that, but after so many times coming through the warp - and so many times falling on his ass - it became almost second nature to all rangers and not just Kimberly and her cheerleader skills.

That didn’t stop some curses from sounding off as the rest of his team landed, with Kim herself mumbling under her breath as she pulled soaked tendrils from her eyes.

“We really need a lift around here or something.” Trini pointed out as Zack shook his head with a wide grin.

“Why? This is fun!”

“It’s more fun when we’re morphed and dry.”

“Sorry guys” Jason apologized, “you saw the drones chasing us, we can’t take risks now."

Soaked from head to toe, the five moved through the tight space of the underground cave-system, going deeper and deeper into the mountain where the alien vessel lay buried. Its visible parts were, as always, shining dark gray metal twisted into strange waves and curls, moved through stone in tight elegant patterns. It resembled a bundle of vines Jason would think sometimes, as if the ship itself had grown instead of been put together in some kind of assembly line.

Hearing the humming energy around them the five rangers climbed the boarding ramp up to the main chamber, the insides of a massive sphere with dozens upon dozens of passages lining up the walls like tiles, each one yielding a distinct glow of its own. Their presence triggered the system instantly; the ramps closed at their backs, the tiles moved and the red glowing portal opened up in front of them. Zordon, as always, waited in the control room with a face that was a stark contrast to Alpha’s cheerful greeting.

“Oh, you guys are all right! I’m always so happy when that happens!”

“Thanks, Alpha” Kim said with a weak smile, as Jason walked ahead.

No matter how many times he did it, there was always something silly about reporting to Zordon what his team had done and what had happened. He felt like one of those movie soldiers, squaring their shoulders and stating their mission loud and clear, except he shifted his weight, placed his hands on his waist and trudged along his words with help from his friends from time to time. He recounted everything he could remember, from the detention students been sent to help out like some sort of community service, to the putty attack right at the end of the day.

“We caught one of them, it's in the truck. I think I'll take a look at it back home.” Billy mentioned when he came to the part of the drones trying to follow their escape. “I think it’s interesting, and really cool. I never saw a drone like it, it’s really high tech stuff, for earth, I mean, not like the ship, the ship is far more advanced, but maybe I could do something with it. Maybe it could give us a clue about APEX.”

“Should we really go after those guys? I mean, you said they were no joke.” Kim asked, hugging herself.

“Well, yeah, I mean, that is true, but we can’t let the Hoogan Twins with them! They are our responsibility, right, Jason?”

“Right, Billy.” Jason agreed, remembering that day as another screw up of his. Some time ago the Hoogans had been as normal as anyone else, but only untill they came in contact with a piece of Goldar's remains. The alloy changed them, turned them into hybrids that tried to destroy the refugee camp if it wasn't for him and his team. Billy had been the one with the plan to contain them, and that is when he should have thought better, because he truly believed Chief Colton would keep the twins in a cell until the goldar alloy lost its power for good. “We can’t leave them in the hands of that woman, I don’t trust her at all and who knows what she is going to do with them.”

“I actually did a research on her name to see if I could figure something out,” Billy said, his hands twitching nervously.

“What did you find?”

“Huh, well, that is… Huh…. Nothing.”

The chamber fell silent at Billy’s words, the humming walls punctuating Kim’s deep frown. “Wait, nothing? Are you serious? That is not possible, is it?”

“Well, actually, it’s very possible to some degree, but I couldn’t even find news or mentions of her name, which is weird, so I don’t know. What I found from APEX came from the deep web, but even that is blank when it comes to their people. Very weird. I’m a little scared, aren’t you guys a little scared?”

“Just a little,” said Jason, feeling a rueful smile pulling at his lips, he hated thinking about threats to his team, worst, he hated thinking what might happen to their families if anything went wrong. He hated the idea of finding someone else dear to him not breathing in his arms. In front of him, Zack seemed the opposite of scared, joining hands behind his head.

“Maybe she gave us a fake name,” he pointed out, “I mean, she thinks we’re aliens right? I wouldn’t give aliens my real name.”

“Why not? Would aliens even know how to use the internet?” Trini questioned and suddenly they were all turning to Zordon and Alpha, the later tapping his fingers together.

“I love the internet," said Alpha.

Jason was wondering if it was too late to warn Alpha about social media when Kim cut through the mood with a snap of reality.

“If they have the Hoogan Twins, then they have goldar dust, that is something else we should worry about, right? She was talking about them like they were playthings or something.”

“The alloy is unstable without Rita and the green power coin, in its desperation it sought out those two to keep itself alive in a sense.” Alpha explained, “It won’t last of course, as we said its effects should lose power and Goldar’s conscience should fade soon, but still…”

“So, the putties, the twins, it’s the alloy just preventing the inevitable.” Trini summed it up. “In that case, as soon as Goldar is gone for good they will just release the twins to prison or something, right?”

“In theory,” said Kim uncertainly.

“Bullshit," Zack grimaced. "If any movie ever made taught me something is that shady secret organizations are never up to any good.”

“Have you ever dealt with something like this, Zordon?” Jason asked.

Their mentor took his time, the interactive wall moving around as he furrowed his brow, “the Power Rangers are widely known in many parts of the galaxy, opposition and distrust such as this is not something we faced often.”

“But you did face it,” Trini noticed.

“Yes, of course we did, from enemies and skepticals in our homes and worlds still in their infancy, when it came to those cases our actions were always quick, and our presence muffled by allies.”

“So can’t we call some allies, then?” Zack questioned. “I mean, some good aliens would be good, you know? Put in a good word and all that and let them know we come in peace since our word is not enough.”

“I’m afraid that is not possible.”

“Why is that?”

“Yi-yi-yi, the ship has been severely damaged not only by the fall, but by its time buried here,” Alpha said with a quick glance to Zordon. “Our systems ate not up to full strenght, I’m afraid we can barely monitor the star system properly as it is.”

“The star system…" Trini nodded and Jason caught a glimpse of her bewilderment, which he kind of shared, "that is cool.”

“Be that as it may, if this organization poses a threat to you, then it also poses a threat to the whole planet,” Zordon reaffirmed, “You must remember that and remain vigilant, rangers.”

“I know, Zordon, we will.” Jason looked to his friends for confirmation, getting a nervous nod from each one of them, before thinking of something else he’d been meaning to ask. “What about the staff?”

“I’m afraid Rita’s Staff remains hidden from us.”

“Alpha and I were trying to find it” Billy said, lowering his head, “nothing worked though, I don’t know why.”

“It’s the power, Billy, trying to find it was a longshot from the beginning” Alpha explained, gently. “The Power Coins only reveal themselves to someone worthy, but Rita’s coin was corrupted long ago, its will was subdued to do her bidding. I’m afraid it might never reveal itself, even if it is on earth.”

“With any luck Rita and the Coin are in the sun right now,” Trini said.

"Who needs that coin anyway?"

"I wouldn't be so haste in disregarding the power coin, Zack," Zordon rebutted. "The Power Rangers are a team, and as such they will only reach their full potential when all members of the team are together. The Power Coin might never be found, but we cannot ignore it without also ignoring the missing piece of your team."

Jason heard Zordon's words with a horrible sense of foreboding. Looking back to the center of the room, he counted agian, five platforms surrounding the viewing globe, not six.

“So, does that mean I should concentrate on that and forget about homework?” Zack asked suddenly with a shit eating grin, Kim groaned.

“Don’t talk to me about homework.”

“Well, other than ranger stuff that is all I can talk about.” Zack pointed out with a painful grimace, his return to school was something of a mess, Jason knew, and he was making up for a lot of lost time. Soon, however he clapped his hands together, his face lighting up as he was struck by some new idea. “All right, none of that, what about some important questions? Like, when are we going to get some awesome swords like Jason’s?”

Jason blinked. “What?”

“That’s right, why don’t we get swords?” Trini asked, crossing her arms in support of Zack.

“It’s totally unfair.”

“It’s not…” Jason shook his head. “I don’t… Billy…”

“I would like a sword,” said Billy.

He looked to Kim at last, but she just smiled, nodding along with a knowing face.

“Huh, well… Zordon?” Alpha tapped what should be his chin and nervously turned around. Suddenly everyone was facing the old red ranger, with the scarlet glow shining through his distant features. To Jason, it seemed like this was one of those moments when Zordon would refuse them an answer, but alas, after a moment, their mentor finally spoke in an emotionless dead voice.

“I’m not sure that you four are ready for such a responsibility.”

“But Jason has a sword!” Zack complained right away.

“Indeed.” Zordon answered, and Jason watched his face falling in that way it usually did when they brought up his past, the red glow diminishing around him. “The matter at hand, Zack, is that a ranger weapon is very particular to each ranger. While the morphing grid manifests itself through your collective bond as a team, each individual weapon is a manifestation of your own individual self. They are a part of you and you shape part of yourself into them. The weapons of my team vanished when they died.”

“Were they destroyed?” Kim asked.

“No” That put frowns on their faces, but luckily Alpha seemed at easy to explain now that Zordon started.

“Each ranger weapon is cultivated by the ranger it’s meant to, they are grown from your armor. Jason’s sword is still here because Zordon is here, but the other weapons don’t have a living ranger with a bond to help you summon them.”

“I’m afraid you must learn to do it by yourselves.” Zordon finished.

“That sounds like a lot of work” Zack mumbled in the silence that followed, their mentor’s somber tone hitting a different note with the teens.

“It is, it will demand discipline and a clear mind, Alpha 5 will instruct you in the process another day.”

“Don’t worry rangers! I’m sure you’ll get it in no time, remember: a ranger’s power is limitless! You guys still have no idea about the things you can do!”

But Jason wasn’t really listening; he stared at his right arm in deep thought, remembering how the sword would materialize instantly at his will. It was as easy as blinking, or willing his legs to move, he just had to think and the sword would be there, just like any other limb.

Later, as he walked out of the ship on the heels of his friends, he welcomed the chatter as it buffed a stab of failure that was always eager to visit him, whether he was aware of it or not. Zack and Kim talked among themselves, the first saying he was going to catch some training while Trini mentioned her dad was never home as of late. Billy typed on his phone, ocasionaly looking up, but completely distracted. Then they were saying goodbyes, and he was sitting on his truck without the chatter to distract him from the fact that he was their leader, even if never felt much like it.

Back when he was the quarterback and star of the football team, even then leadership was the farthest thing from his mind. There were others, more qualified for the role. The coach for one, or Marty Borne was always shouting orders on the field even if Jason had often ignored him and done his own thing.

A leader shouldn’t do his own thing.

“I sent a text to my mom, she is really worried,” Billy said as he climbed on the backseat, his voice nervous and uneasy. “Do you think she will forbid me from going out? I’m scared she might do that, because she is worried, she doesn’t like when I go out since The Encounter and with each attack she gets more worried and I don’t like making her worry.”

“She just loves you, Billy, besides she knows you are with friends, right?”

“Well yeah, but well, she doesn’t know what we do, or that we are rangers. It’s the rules right? I don’t know what to tell her when I’m hanging out with you guys, I mean, I usually tell her we’re hanging out because that is true, but what if there is an emergency?”

It was a sad reality that Angel Grove, despite the presence of superheroes wasn't really viewed as a safe place anymore, Billy's mom was just one of many parents and grown ups trying to deal with it in their own way. Hell, Jason had his own father demanding updates of his whereabouts while ignoring the fact that his ankle bracelet seemed to not work half the time. “All right, what did you tell her when we were out in the mines then?”

“What? The mines?”

“Yeah, did she know you were out blowing stuff up?”

Billy frowned. “No, not really," his friend hesitated as if debating his next words. "I used to ask my dad.”

Oh.

_Oh_

Something hurtful and new lodged itself into Jason’s heart as he considered what to say next.

“Well, if there is an emergency, just come and later we will think of something to tell your mom, we’ll do it together, is that all right?”

“Oh, all right,” Billy smiled, “thanks Jason.”

Jason grinned, watching his friend nodding at him from the rearview mirror. The blue ranger then jumped at the captured drone and began to tinkle with the thing just as Kimberly climbed on the passenger seat and leaned back with a tired sigh.

“Fuck, I’m beat, can’t wait to change off these clothes and have a shower.”

“You would think an alien ship would have a shower, right?”

Kim frowned. “Did we actually ask about it?”

“I…” now he was unsure, “I didn’t.”

“Typical.”

She smiled and Jason chuckled at the implication, not that he blamed his friends, it was, after all far more fun to think about swords and fighting monsters than actual conveniences; Relaxed, he waved at Trini who was lingering behind – she never accepted rides - and pulled out of the side road leading into the mines. “Well, you’re lucky you live so close, I have to drive all the way into town in soaked pants.”

“Yeah, I’m a lucky girl.”

Jason blinked a little, watching Kim from the corner of his eyes. He knew she was tired; apparently she and Zack had some freaky putty incident yesterday, so she probably lost some sleep. Not that being in bed helped all that much, not if she had nightmares like he did. Idly, Jason looked to the rearview mirror, seeing Billy fidgeting with the drone, alive and breathing. A leader never fails alone.

“Are you all right?” he ventured in asking.

“Terrific.”

“I’m serious,” he doubled down, “we’re a team, we have to make sure we’re all fit for field action.”

“Are those more words you learned from the internet?”

“Maybe.”

“Of course,” Kim said, looking out of the window at the passing darkness, “don’t worry, Jason, I’m fine, promise. What about you, though? Are you thinking about college yet? It’s all my parents talk about these days.”

He chuckled, wondering back to half thought dreams of scholarships and college football. “Funny enough, I wonder if I should miss worrying about that.”

“You said it.”

“My dad always thought I would get a scholarship, but I don’t know if he thought I would be some famous player or actually get a degree that I’ll use.” Jason mused, “I’m not even sure we’re allowed to leave town for college, what with the Zeo Crystal needing protection and all.”

It was something Jason had considered before, when he begun to understand that he probably would be out of opportunities and his family wasn’t really swimming in money. Now, more and more he saw his future crystalizing in Angel Grove.

“I would like to go to college, I think.” Billy spoke from the back, he held what looked like a motherboard neard the light, then put it back down Jason hoped he wouldn't miss any parts inside the truck. “MIT, my mom always said I would do well in the MIT, but I don’t know about that. I like the ship though; Alpha knows a lot of stuff, have you guys asked him about singularities yet? Did you know that although it affects time and space is has strangely no influence on the morphing grid?”

“Really?” Jason asked, paying attention to the road, he wasn’t sure he understood what Billy was saying, but he was curious nonetheless.

“What does that mean for us? I mean, can we jump into a black hole then?” Kim questioned.

“Huh, well, I’m not sure, I don’t think we can get close enough without being spaghettified, I mean, the morphing grid is pure energy, but we’re still people. I don’t know, and there is time to consider as well, I mean we would probably jump out and everyone else would be older or something which would be weird I think.” Well, Jason doubted they would find a black hole any time soon, so he refrained from wondering much about that. “Hey Kim, have you thought about your weapon yet? Do you think we’re all getting swords or do we get to pick? I would like to pick mine.”

“I don’t know, I’m still not sure how this ranger stuff works.” Kim answered. “I mean, we don’t even know where the armor comes from, do we?”

“The morphing grid,” Billy said as if that was obvious. “I think I would like to pick my weapon, I always thought it would be cool to use nunchakus.”

“Like the ninja turtle?” Asked Jason.

“I like the ninja turtles,” Kim said

Moments later, after a long winded debate about ninjas, turtles and weapons, Jason parked by Kim’s house, and turned to see her grin vanishing a little. He frowned at that, but before he could say anything she was already saying goodbye and jumping out of her seat. Jason watched her walk up to the door and enter, his mind wondering both to her smile and conversations left unfinished.

“Jason?”

“Yeah?” He startled, meeting Billy’s confused gaze.

“Have you asked Kim on a date yet? Is that why you were staring?”

“Huh, what? No, I mean…”

“You should ask, I think she would be cool with it.”

“That is not... What... I mean...” Billy seemed cool, while he felt his cheeks both burning for some unknown reason. “What gave you that idea, Billy?” He aked quickly in an attempt to save face.

“Zack was talking about it.”

“Zack?!”

“Yeah, he said you keep looking at her, like all the time and not in a friend’s way of looking.”

Now Jason frowned, wondering if it was that obvious, or if this was just their friend messing around. Of course he felt a connection with Kimberly, he always had a sort of crush on her and later, with all the ranger stuff, he felt their bond growing somewhat. She told him things he was sure no one else knew, not from her anyway, but he still feared how easily anything could be screwed up.

"Well, I'm sure Zack is wrong," Billy hummed behind him, and Jason had the impression that his friend was amused by him.

* * *

There were a lot of things that Zack Taylor enjoyed about life as a superhero.

The strength, the speed, the stamina, not to mention the thrill of destroying a five foot stone monster with a well-placed punch. He enjoyed that his train surfing was easier these days - even if he seldom had time for it - and he enjoyed that he had a cool armor and a cool giant robot to boot.

What he didn’t enjoy the fact that with all these powers inside an alien ship he still couldn’t get any closer to not worrying about the next day. Maybe then he wouldn’t stay late, punching those same monsters in the pit despite having dealt with the real thing not a moment ago. He could still remember the stark realities of his new role as a ranger and how they settled into him. It started when they almost died in that pity of fire, when their zords were getting trashed and he blacked out with Trini's voice shouting in his ears. It crystalized when, in one of their first outings to deal wtih putties a man would've died if it wasn't for Kim. So yeah, Zack understood very well that they couldn't afford to screw up, and maybe he liked to hide it that he did. So what? He was always good at letting out steam.

Grinning, he let the next putty come at him. Waiting for the right moment, he bent his knees, coiled his muscles and just as he was about to punch the shit out of that ugly face, the putty was thrown at his feet and kicked in the head by an short crazy girl adn her inquiring eyes.

“Hey! What was that for?”

“Are you all right?”

Straight to the point or, well, not straight, because that was Trini, still. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Kimberly said you were wide awake last night, that tells me you didn’t sleep well, or at all.”

Zack huffed. “Well, Kimberly was there too, isn’t she okay as well?”

“I dunno, but she asked me to look after you first, so, here we are.”

Trini opened her arms to make her point and Zack made a mental note to himself that having friends was annoying, stupid and he wasn’t sure what to do with them half the time.

“Well, you’re wasting your time, I’m perfectly fine.” He crossed his arms, she crossed hers and they stared for a long while until he couldn’t help but crack a grin. “All right, do you mind sparring then? It’s better than doing nothing.”

“Sure.” Trini shrugged and dropped her jacket on a corner, entering the pit in a tank and the jeans she had been using in the volunteer work.

Side by side, Zack reloaded the simulation, getting four putties to surround them from all sides. Trini scoffed. “Taking it easy?”

“Remember when this was hard?”

“I still feel the bruises.”

“Wanna see who finishes first?”

“I'm not your girlfriend, dude.”

“Ouch.” The putties came at him and Zack snapped up a kick right at the closest one. His knee shattered the stone face instantly, making the rest of the body get thrown back onto the ground. He twisted, punching with a fist to finish the rest of the body, just in time to jump back from the next one.

The putty flayed around madly to go after him, but Zack had grown used to its speed. He dodged once, twice, rolled under the third punch and moved forward with a tackle that brought the whole putty down with him. Rising fast, he punched it twice before the simulation stopped, the stones falling uselessly back to the ground. On the opposite side of the Pit, Trini was finishing her last one with an airborne kick and a roaring cry.

“I win” Zack said, smirking, to which Trini huffed, throwing her beanie down with her jacket and cracking her knuckles.

“Lucky shot, let’s go again.”

“Feeling bold?”

“Are we now?”

Zack chuckled, restarting the simulation. Two more for each. “You know, there was a cute girl out there today, I don’t know if you noticed.”

“I don’t know if I noticed either.”

“She was very tall.”

“Yeah.”

“Pretty.” Trini hummed, Zack dodged a punch and stepped back. “I don’t think she was into me!”

“Why am I not surprise?”

“Maybe you should ask her out!”

As he expected that got Trini in a mood to finish the fight very quickly, and immediately ask for more. Eventually Zack lost count of how many training putties they were fighting but soon they were both sitting down on the stairs, panting and nursing a few minor bruises that he was sure would disappear in a day or two.

“I got a job.” He found himself confessing to Trini after a moment, making the girl pause in the middle of stretching her arm. “You’re looking at the new busboy from that fancy place with the seagulls.”

Trini made a humming noise, piercing him with an unimpressed and searching look. “That is nice.”

“Not really, it sucks, but I need the money.” He leaned back, resting his head on his hands. “One good thing of so many people leaving town, suddenly it’s very easy to get a job. I won’t be getting to train so much though.”

“I’m sure Jason doesn’t care.”

“Well, what he thinks doesn’t count much when monsters are showing up, right? Rita herself said other would come for the crystal, so I should be ready all the same.”

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Trini stopping, then… “I thought you were making train surfing videos.”

“Monetization is hard, plus people have better things to do on the internet, and I’m not sure I should use super powers for the whole world to see.”

“That sounds almost reasonable coming from you.”

“Thank you.”

"And just when I was about to subscribe."

They shared a grin. He enjoyed the peace of the silence between them for a moment longer, the companionship was nice, and he liked that Trini never pushed. For a moment he almost felt good enough to forget the reasons he pushed himself for training so much. He could forget the thoughts of a van almost falling down a cliff, and Kim having to play tarzan to rescue the guy. Superheroes couldn’t do just about anything, except try.

“So, since you’re still here, I figure you don’t want to go home.”

“What gave you that idea?” Trini asked, her scrunched face looking almost cute. He laughed.

“Come on then, crazy girl, we can play supporting friends together.”

“Where are we going?”

“My house, I mean, if you want to,” a pause followed, making him feel almost embarrassed. “If you don’t mind helping me cook there is.”

He wasn’t sure Trini, the loner, would accept his invitation, but finally, in a moments notice, she smirked. “If I can use your shower, I wouldn’t mind, I like talking to your mother."

“She is the best."

“She has lots of interesting stories about you.”

“Huh…” Zack paused, but Trini was already moving up the stairs, shouting at him to keep up. Groaning, he idly started wondering if he made a mistake.


	5. Sunday Blues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really felt like I couldn't move forward without touching Kim and Jason's possible romance, since it featured so heavily on the deleted scenes and the comic... and the novelization... so. XD

It was a lazy end of afternoon in Angel Grove and Kimberly Hart wished she could spend the rest of her weekend in bed.

That temptation came pushed forward by many factors, from the soft, squishy pillow propping her head up to the familiar lethargy that took over her thoughts seeping off her energy, overwhelming her with things to do and things that should be until she wanted nothing more than to close her eyes fade into the darkness. Alas, sleep was also hard come, for the idea of disappointing someone dear nagged her worse than anything else, and so there she was, twirling the pink coin in her hands, back and forth, left and right, as if she could unlock all of its hidden secrets if she stared at it hard enough. At her feet, there was a green stuffed bear that she poked with toes almost compulsively, a bear that was Amanda Clarke’s once and that she promised herself to throw away at some point, but never really went about doing it.

Kimberly knew she was running out of time, the clock was ticking and she needed to get ready or at least seem as ready as possible for someone who was regretting saying “yes” in the first place.

To be fair, even though she expected something like this to happen sooner or later, it still shocked her when Jason texted her Saturday night. It was a date for all ends and purposes, something of a dream for every girl in Angel Grove until a few months ago when the fallen legend became the talk of the town only surpassed by the appearance of monsters and giant robots. Of course, there _was_ something between her and Jason, but like a kiss that never happened she feared ideas might be better in the imagination. They shared a certain connection, both looking for something to soften their fall from grace, both wishing to leave it all behind and move eternally forward, and yet she understood that it was fear which was squirming inside her guts, a sense of dread whose roots she couldn’t see, since whenever she thought about Jason, more often than not she could only ask: why not? He was easy on the eyes also, which was a plus.

Ty Flemming had also been easy on the eyes, but he had never been enough, and she was always half ready to let him go, to discard him as one would throw out an uncomfortable shirt, all because she thought she was a great hero in an epic love story, about to reach the end of her movie with strawberry flavored kisses. It turns out that most heroes in love stories are creeps and horrible and she had to learn that lesson on her own. Maybe it was in her family, judging by how her own parent’s marriage was going, except that was her fault too, the incontrollable daughter.

Sighing, she rubbed her eyes and finally summoned enough courage to get up. Thankfully her house had been silent for a while now. Her phone was off too and that peace allowed her to look around her bedroom in all its messy glory. The week’s clothes were all thrown about on the floor or over the furniture, books were open over the table and she felt a stab of guilt when she saw the cup where she drank juice that morning. She picked her favorite top from the ground, sniffed it and grimaced. She definitely needed to do laundry soon, but not now, deodorant first.

Digging through her wardrobe she was glad to find an old white top that went well with her jacket. Her jeans were lying haphazardly across the bed. Next, she jumped to her makeup: moisturizer, primer, foundation, the routine was almost second nature, although her actions turned angry when she got to the concealer, determined to see the bags under her eyes disappearing. She slowed down to deal with her eyes, and by the time she applied the gloss to her lips she almost felt like a put together human.

By the time she had her boots on – mismatched socks, but who cares? – She heard the dreadful horn of Jason’s truck, blaring in front of her house. Kim moved before the rock on her throat got bigger, stopping just out of the door when she remembered her phone. The cracked screen glared at her for a second before she shoved it into her pocket. Her power coin was already there as it was bound to do, and she was all too glad to never have to think about it.

When she came down the stairs she found her father trying to peek out of the window, his frown deepening as he took her in.

“It’s for me,” she explained, hoping she could get to the door before he said anything, but alas there were things not even a power ranger could do.

“Kim, wait!” He reached her in the middle of the hallway, his body moving as if to block her passage, but when she stopped her father squirmed uncertainly. “Kim, honey… I… I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

“Dad, I have to go.”

“Right, of course,” he paused, pursing his lips. From this close it was impossible not to see how the last days had been affecting him. His hair was unkempt and he hadn’t shaved in a while, there was something tired about his eyes too, as if not even the game on the tv could bring him the same joy as it used to. It hadn’t brought him any joy since the cops came to talk about Amanda Clarke’s picture.

She wondered briefly if he had finally chosen the moment to let her know that things weren’t great between him and her mom. It seemed silly to expect it all to be put into words, but Kim almost wished for it at this point. It would be better than the silent implications of a morning of tense silence. It was better than the uncertainty.

“Dad…”

“Did your mother say anything to you?” His frown deepened as soon as he blurted out the question, and Kim wondered if he also felt the ground unsteady under his feet. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. “I know she must’ve said something. It’s all right sweetie, you can tell me.”

“She didn’t say anything.” She lied, looking down to her boots, but she wasn’t really seeing anything, she was simply hyperaware of her father’s shifting stance.

“Oh, that is all right.” It wasn’t. “Look, I know you noticed that, well, things are not very good with me and your mother lately. She has been spending a lot of time out right now, late hours at work. I don’t know what to think of it. We talked, but she won’t listen when I tell her about her own family, she can’t just run off like some kind of…”

“She is busy” Kim blurted out and he looked at her as if he expected her to have an answer to his problems, but she didn’t, she just wanted to flee. “She is busy.”

“Right.” His laughter was bitter, mocking, and when Jason honked again she never felt so glad to hear the obnoxious sound.

“I have to go.”

“Right, yes, of course” She opened the door, hoping to leave the house behind, “Have fun, sweetie and please be careful.”

She shook, risking a quick peek at the tentative smile her father was giving her. “I’ll” she said, seeking something else, a little something to easy the guilt and anger in her heart, the smallest proof of love; something like an apology for being a horrible daughter. “Do you want me to bring you something?”

Her father shook his head and just like that she was out and in the open, the cold air filling her lungs as she left behind the oppressive heavy burden of existing inside her own house. She bounced to the truck and closed the door before the feeling could disappear. Jason beamed at her.

“You look nice!”

 _She can’t just run off like some kind of… What?_ Kim wondered as she forced a smile on her face. She could remember everything her dad could shout the high of his anger and all the options filled her with disgust.

“Thanks, so do you.”

Jason chuckled, running a rand through his blond hair. He smelled nice too, and his button down red shirt looked good on him. She told him the last part.

“Well, you know, I thought I should make an effort.”

“Did someone help you with it?”

“I know how to dress myself.”

Her mother had dressed herself in a beautiful dark suit that morning, going out to make sure the mayor wouldn’t burn the city down. She had lingered in front of her for seeming hours, both of them ignoring the fact that Maddy Hart had been sleeping in the guest bedroom.

_“If I leave, would come with me?”_

Inside the truck, Kim played along, feeling glad when Jason made a curb out of her neighborhood. “So, where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

She hummed in acceptance, her eyes locked to the outside world as the city went by. She wondered if it is at this point that she should be feeling butterflies fluttering on her stomach, but if there were any, they were dead and buried. She watched the buildings and closed off streets. She watched the setting sun and the deep orange color that painted the skies. She wanted to think about something that wasn’t her father’s concealed bitterness or her mother’s broken determination.

“So, how have you been?” _How have you been the last twenty or so hours we haven’t seen each other._

“Fine, I’m fine, you?”

“Fine.” She said, hoping her hair was hiding her face.

By the end of an awkwardly silent ride, Kim found herself looking over an elegant low roof building, in which seagulls were flying over the elegant cursive name on the front, shining in warm colors.

“Carrington’s?” She couldn’t hide her surprise. “Jason Scott, are you trying to impress me?”

Jason got a weird look in his eyes as he rubbed the back of his head, a cute blush making its way to his cheeks. “It was my dad’s idea.”

“Your dad’s?” It was hard to hide her surprise, as she smirked at him. “Did you go to him for advice?”

“Well, you know, there isn’t much we can do with the curfew on, the cinemas got trashed too and I had no idea what to do. He sort of caught on that something was happening. He pulled me aside, shoved some cash on my pocket and told me to get here.” He explained quickly. “He said it was the perfect place to bring a girl” He made quote marks with his fingers, looking as flustered as she felt.

She hadn’t really met Jason’s parents beyond seeing them in his house from afar, but she wondered about them now. Had Sam Scott brought his future wife here some day long ago? Her own parents were certainly fond of the place as they would tell her. Maybe Jason’s dad told him something similar, and that was why he seemed so out of place, adjusting his shirt almost compulsively as a waiter got them their menus. Kim stared at it, unable to shake the odd feeling she got from hearing Jason ask his order, she could hear the smile on his voice too, and for some reason that bolt of fear returned, emboldened and paralyzing, forcing her to read out loud the first dish she put her eyes on without really registering what she asked.

Around them, the restaurant seemed reasonably crowded, each table and set occupied by the residents of a city that suddenly had a much bigger appreciation for life. She saw young people there as well, in particular Angela Smith from the cheer squad having a date with Matty Borne. Her old teammate caught her eyes for a second before looking away. There was a candle in the middle of the table, giving off light that shone against the scarlet tablecloth. A bread basket was there as well, and glasses that a new presence filled with water amidst a delighted snort.

“Zack!”

“What are you doing here?” Jason asked, although it seemed really obvious.

“Working, Boos Man.” Their friend saluted before breaking again into a smile, and a narrowed gaze. “What about you two?”

“We’re…”

“We’re just hanging out,” Kim said.

“Yes, that…”

“Right, that is what is happening, I’ll pretend that I believe you guys.” He made to moved away, but stopped short before they could even begin to sigh in relief, his face mockingly deadpanned. “I don’t really believe by the way, I hope it’s obvious that I don’t. Can you guys tell that I don’t believe you? I’m making a serious effort to make it obvious, is it obvious?”

“Yes” they said in unison.

“All right, thanks guys, and that was really cute by the way.” Zack’s shit eating grin could’ve been more helpful. “Oh man, I can’t wait to text Alpha about this! The little guy will be thrilled.”

“You’ve been talking to Alpha about us?”

“The little dude loves a drama, Kim! I’ve been showing him some soap operas my mom likes.” Kim smiled, she couldn’t help but think back to their robot friend, talking Zordon’s ears of about the latest development in _The Young and the Restless._

“Well, you better stop, whatever Kim and I do is none of your business.” Jason argued to which Zack nodded unconvincingly.

“Sure thing, Boss.” Zack said, he made to walk away, but stopped short again, twisting on his heels for one last bit. “Don’t forget the condoms!”

He went away just as he arrived, winking at Kim before he disappeared inside the kitchen. Across from her, Jason groaned, and she couldn’t help but giggle.

“Well, that was a good start.”

She got a laugh out him with that, and both of them settled into a friendly silence as the waiter came along, seeming flustered. “Was the young man bothering you? We’re sorry he…”

“He wasn’t bothering us, Jason, was he bothering us?”

“Not at all.”

“He wasn’t bothering us, in fact he was quite the gentlemen and delightful too.” Kim could hear Jason’s silent snicker from a mile away, but she just looked up at the man with well-practiced sincerity. “I would like to congratulate you on your staff, sir.”

The waiter stopped short, clearing his throat. “Well… huh… that is, well said ma’am.”

He put a plate full of pasta and shrimp sauce in front of her, while Jason got a bowl of stew that she could smell from across the table. It almost made her want to change around, but that sensation of dread kept her in check.

“Do you think they had soap operas in Eltar?” She asked when they were alone.

“About what? I mean, that doesn’t sound sage like.”

“Not all of them were sages, besides, they must have had something fun to do, and entertainment is universal, right?”

“Are you asking if Rita enjoyed music or theater?”

She wasn’t sure what she was asking at all, so she simply shrugged. The conversation was awkward and stunted for a moment, their questions going through insignificant matters, like the food or the decoration – she thought it was tacky, and he agreed.

“I hear there is going to be a game soon.”

“A game?”

“The mayor is in talks with Stone Canyon about organizing some friendly matches to raise morale, my mom mentioned it to me.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” He didn’t sound so sure, her mother had hated it, she never like sports. “We could win.”

“You think we can beat the Stone Canyon Frogs?”

“How would I know?”

“I dunno, you’re the one saying it, you’re also the one who goes to watch the team training on your free time.”

In front of her, Jason stopped with a spoonful of stew halfway to his mouth. “All right, you caught me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

She hesitated, in her guts, the fear retreated. “Do you miss it?”

“Not really.” She gave him a look. “I’m serious, I really don’t, not the way I was playing it at least.”

“What do you mean?”

Jason fidgeted a bit, twirling whatever he had left on his bowl, while she poked at her pasta. “Do you know how I started liking football? It was something I did with my dad. We would watch the games together and play when he was home. I used to like it a lot before I got on the team, but then everything became a competition, you know. I had to be the best, I had to win the games, and I had to get the chance for a scholarship. I felt like that was the whole reason he loved me.”

Kim was silent for a second. “I’m so sorry.”

Jason shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, we’re better now, but no, I don’t miss the team, I guess I miss a time when I enjoyed playing, you know?”

She tried to think about something she enjoyed before, and was surprised to find that it was easy. She remembered her father showing her a set of chess to play at night, she remembered her mother having her kneel before their shrine to teach her about her faith, and then she remembered dinners when they were all together. She remembered having friends and sleepovers. Yes, there were a lot of things Kimberly missed.

“Anyway, the team is not that bad for what I can see, they have this new quarterback, David Oliver, and the guy is very good.”

Conversation strolled towards others topics as the night went on. They joked around, and talked a lot. She asked about his family and he smiled when he talked of his little sister. He asked about hers and she lied.

“My dad is still mad about the color of our lawn.”

Later, he paid the bill, like a gentlemen, something she teased him about as got back in the truck. The night was finishing around them, giving her a sense that something important had happened, but she wasn’t sure what it was. There were no cinemas or clubs open at this point, unless it was illegal, and so they decided to drive home.

“This was nice, right?”

She smiled. “It was.”

“Not so bad for a pair of super heroes.” She closed her eyes and nodded, wondering to the warmth from her power coin. “To think this whole thing started when we were trying to run away.”

And there was the dread again. It returned so suddenly she felt her body freezing over, as if a spike of ice had stabbed her through the gut, sending shiver up her spine. The whole night she had been hunting for it, trying to see through its nature and now she was starting to see it. By her side, Jason made no mention that he noticed her. There was a cheesy country song on the radio that he started to sing along and Kim was surprised to find that his voice was quite good. She wondered if someone else knew about it, his little sister perhaps. And therein was her realization that he looked so different from the Jason she met on the mountains that day. He looked different from Jason Scott in general.

The star of the Angel Grove Tigers had been the core of a peculiar sort of popularity in the school, someone that was built up by teachers and students alike. He was the hot bachelor, the big name with a golden future. Hell, Kim knew for a fact that Harper had managed to snatch one of his uniform shirts claiming it would be worth a lot in a few years. That stardom evaporated when he crashed and the team started to lose, as if the rest of the players were in no way responsible for those losses. It was easy to blame the absent one.

Of course that was in the past now, and these days not even that unsure teen appeared before her eyes with much frequency. She saw this Jason crying and angry and also caring when she finally revealed the ugly truth behind her stay in detention. These days he had a new role; that of their leader, the red power ranger and Kim thought he wore it well, even if he doubted it sometimes. She never doubted him though, that part of her was saved for herself and that was the horrible, terrible reality of this date they had.

She loved her friends, and she would die for them without a second thought. That was the truth. Jason Scott and Kimberly Hart had both connected in their need to run away, but right then, in that truck, as she watched Jason happily singing about that old Frio River, she was starting to understand that out of the two of them he was the only one that had stopped running.

Later he would get her home and when he asked the question she wouldn’t know what answer to give beyond the heavy doubt lingering over the lawn of her house and Kim would remember the taste of strawberry lipstick and shake her head, trying to save him.


End file.
